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My Map of You by Isabelle Broom

1.5.16

Holly Wright has had a difficult few years. After her mother's death, she's become expert at keeping people at a distance - including her boyfriend, Rupert.

But when Holly receives an unexpected letter explaining that an aunt she never met has left her a house on the Greek island of Zakynthos, the walls she has built begin to crumble. Arriving on the island, Holly meets the handsome Aidan and slowly begins to uncover the truth about the secret which tore her family apart.

But is the island where Holly really belongs? Or will her real life catch up with her first?

Hurrah! The sun is out! Finally… It feels like it's been winter forever. I'm more than ready to ditch the tights and boots for bare legs and flip-flops.

And when the sun does make that rare appearance it always makes me crave a holiday where the sun is guaranteed. And this year, thanks to Isabelle Broom, I can't get the idea of jetting off to Zakynthos out of my head…

I read My Map of Year back in February and it gave me serious wanderlust. The reality was I was reading sat on my sofa, heating on, blanket covering my knees as the wind and rain battered against the window. But as I turned the pages I forgot about the cold, bad weather outside as I was completely transported to the sunny Greek island. Isabelle's writing is SO good it really does make you feel like you're there.

As well as the wonderful setting, the characters are all super likeable too (apart from the very annoying Rupert…) and you can't help but cross your fingers and hope that after all she's been through, Holly gets a happy ever after…

I can't rave about My Map of You enough. It's a superb debut novel and I urge you all to put it on your 'to-read' piles. But be warned - post reading you will be desperate to book a holiday…

Because I am super nosy I like to know about the 'behind the scenes' bits of writing a book. And Isabelle kindly told me the four things she always has to have on her writer's desk - and the one thing she shouldn't…

1) Tea! I can’t recall a single time I’ve sat down to write at my desk without a cuppa to hand. I’ve even got a special mug that I use. It was a gift from my amazing editor Kimberley Atkins, and she brought it back all the way from Disney World for me.

2) Laptop! Okay, so this one is obvious, but I wouldn’t get very far without the beautiful little beast. It was actually a gift from an ex-boyfriend who did a VERY BAD THING to me, so every time I use it I get a small sense of satisfaction that I’ve used it to be happy and make all my dreams come true.

3) Travel guides! These are an essential for me, because my novels are all set abroad. And while I do take trips overseas to research my locations and make pages of notes, I still like the books there as a reference. Plus, some of the place names in Prague, where my second book is set, are very tricky to spell correctly – even for a sub-editor!

4) Max! My lovely dog is the perfect writing companion. Not only does he keep my feet warm by sitting on them when it’s cold, he also listens very patiently when I read the same paragraph aloud twenty times over as I try to get it right. No human would ever put up with that nonsense! One of these days I’ll have to dedicate a book to him…

…And one thing I really shouldn’t

Oh, definitely my phone. Does everyone say the same thing? Sometimes the temptation to check Twitter becomes overwhelming, and there’s always the chance that it could ring and distract me. But I’m a needy soul, what can I say? One of these days I’ll drop it in my tea or the dog will eat it – that’ll teach me!